Controlled Valve Necessity

It is absolutely necessary for a system to implement a controlled valve to manipulate the various flow conditions within the system. The flow within a system needs to be responsive to other conditions within that context, such as temperature, pressure, and process media that is being moved through the system for a specific purpose. Depending on the conditions that exist, a lot of a particular liquid or gas that is flowing through a system may be required at a certain point to help balance out an extreme condition. In other cases, there may be too much of a liquid or gas in a system at a given time, and a certain amount may need to be stopped so that the flow does not get overwhelming and create an issue for production or operations. Controlled valves are able to allow flow or restrict flow as deemed necessary by these other conditions.

A controlled valve is usually opened and closed automatically rather than manually. Different types of actuators can be hooked up to controlled valves, and they supply the power and issue the automatic open and close commands. The different types of actuators that are used are electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic actuators. The three different types of actuators gain their power from three different sources; from electricity, liquid pressure, or gas pressure, respectively. There are benefits to using each of the actuator types for different reasons, and each company will ultimately have to determine which type of actuator best meets their needs. Electrical actuators tend to be easier to wire and install in a system, and they also usually involve less trouble-shooting when the time comes to diagnose a problem. Hydraulic and pneumatic actuators require more space and a pumping system, and are therefore a bit of a hassle to actually install. Once installed, however, hydraulic and pneumatic actuators can provide a greater amount of pressure. If a system requires a large amount of pressure for certain industrial tasks, than these actuators might prove to be the best options. The size of the controlled valve these actuators are activating could vary widely based on the application of use. A company should order very carefully, as many controlled valve manufacturers will specialize their orders to ensure their effectiveness once installed in a specific location and pipe size.

An actuator can be set to activate a controlled valve based on a sensor reading from within the system. If the sensor reports that the temperature is too high, and more liquid of a cooler temperature is needed to flow to a certain spot to help balance out the issue, the actuator will automatically open the controlled valve to allow more substance to flow to that location. Similar sensor reading, actuator responses, and flow results can occur if there is too much or too little flow, and if the pressure is not within an acceptable range. In that situation, the pressure is usually relieved through a controlled valve automatically responding to a sensor and opening to release some of the built up gas.